Narrative:

[Our destination] phl was in a west operation for the first half of our flight. The forecasted snow began and visibility dropped to between 1-2 miles and they turned the airport around to an east operation. I don't know what the arrival rate was at this time but washington center slammed the door on us and atlanta center had to put us into holding over byjac near gso; approximately 350 nm from phl; at FL350. We were eventually released direct to lyh (not on our routing) and washington center where we were placed into holding again at FL350. Our original alternate was bdl; requiring 3.7 in fuel. Legal fuel at phl shutdown with our reserve (4.0) and alternate was 7.7. We computed we needed to leave the lyh holding with about 11.3 to have the correct fuel to get to phl; make an approach and land with the required fuel. At this point; washington center would still not let us proceed so we coordinated with dispatch; changing the alternate to acy which required 1.7 in fuel; freeing up approximately 2.0 for further holding. Sometime later we were released direct to fak to resume the DPNT4 STAR into phl. We arrived at terri at 10;000' and phl approach would not take the handoff from washington center because they were saturated with traffic. We were placed into holding for a third time over terri. At this point; we had barely enough holding fuel left to cover the time it would take to get to our efc. Our minimum fuel at phl shutdown was now 5.7 (reserve + alternate). We advised washington center that we would be unable to hold longer than our efc time. With 7.9 in fuel; we were turned over to approach control. We were assigned a heading out of terri and we declared minimum fuel with the controller. We had adequate fuel for normal handling on the approach but the controllers changed the aircraft sequencing some and brought us in a little earlier. We landed at phl and shutdown with 6.8 in fuel. More holding fuel to some airports like phl is always welcome.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An air carrier Captain reported declaring minimum fuel on arrival to PHL because of holds for weather.

Narrative: [Our destination] PHL was in a west operation for the first half of our flight. The forecasted snow began and visibility dropped to between 1-2 miles and they turned the airport around to an east operation. I don't know what the arrival rate was at this time but Washington Center slammed the door on us and Atlanta Center had to put us into holding over BYJAC near GSO; approximately 350 nm from PHL; at FL350. We were eventually released direct to LYH (not on our routing) and Washington Center where we were placed into holding again at FL350. Our original alternate was BDL; requiring 3.7 in fuel. Legal fuel at PHL shutdown with our reserve (4.0) and alternate was 7.7. We computed we needed to leave the LYH holding with about 11.3 to have the correct fuel to get to PHL; make an approach and land with the required fuel. At this point; Washington Center would still not let us proceed so we coordinated with Dispatch; changing the alternate to ACY which required 1.7 in fuel; freeing up approximately 2.0 for further holding. Sometime later we were released direct to FAK to resume the DPNT4 STAR into PHL. We arrived at TERRI at 10;000' and PHL Approach would not take the handoff from Washington Center because they were saturated with traffic. We were placed into holding for a third time over TERRI. At this point; we had barely enough holding fuel left to cover the time it would take to get to our EFC. Our minimum fuel at PHL shutdown was now 5.7 (reserve + alternate). We advised Washington Center that we would be unable to hold longer than our EFC time. With 7.9 in fuel; we were turned over to Approach Control. We were assigned a heading out of TERRI and we declared Minimum Fuel with the Controller. We had adequate fuel for normal handling on the approach but the controllers changed the aircraft sequencing some and brought us in a little earlier. We landed at PHL and shutdown with 6.8 in fuel. More holding fuel to some airports like PHL is always welcome.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.